Jessica T. Heacock
Department of Biology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA, 55057
Abstract. The function of driptips, elongated ends of leaves, has been in question since the late 1800's. This paper attempts to determine if the most recently proposed theory -- that driptips decrease the volume of drops falling off leaves, which limits soil erosion at the base of the plant -- is applicable to leaves from plants in the family Melastomataceae. According to this theory the effects of driptips would be different depending on how tall the plant is and the height of individual leaves. Five mls of water was dripped onto leaves off of Melastomataceae treelets and shrubs. The rate of drops was measured and quantified. The differences in the two size classes of plants was analyzed to interpret whether this family shows differences in drip tip function at different heights. While the droplets are smaller with driptips than without, there is no difference found between the size classes in drop rate. These results are discussed and future work proposed.